Joshua Medcalf is the founder of Train to Be Clutch and the author of six books on mental conditioning and leadership, including Pound the Stone, Chop Wood Carry Water, and Hustle. On this episode of the Tom Rowland Podcast, Joshua joins Tom to talk about the path that took him from a law school scholarship to living in the closet of a gym, why he wrote the books he did, and what mental conditioning actually looks like when you apply it to sport and to life.
Joshua Medcalf is the founder of Train to Be Clutch and an author focused on mental conditioning, leadership, and life skills. He has written six books, including Pound the Stone, Chop Wood Carry Water, and Hustle.
Train to Be Clutch is the organization Joshua Medcalf founded, built on the mission of loving people, serving people, and providing value, starting from a program he ran out of the closet of a gym.
He gave up scholarships to law school to move across the country and live and serve at a homeless shelter in downtown Los Angeles, and after six months there he moved into the closet of a gym, which is where Train to Be Clutch began to take shape.
He has worked with programs at the highest level of mental conditioning, including being one of only two people ever invited to work with UNC's women's soccer program, which has won twenty-two national championships.
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Joshua is one of my favorite authors, and I had Pound the Stone, Chop Wood Carry Water, and Hustle on my book club reading list before I ever booked him. I wanted to get past the books themselves and actually get to know the guy who wrote them.
The story behind Train to Be Clutch is not a straight line. Joshua walked away from law school scholarships to serve at a homeless shelter in downtown LA, and then moved into the closet of a gym when that season ended. What that stretch actually looked like day to day is worth hearing him tell.
Joshua has built mental training tools used across basketball, soccer, and golf, and he is one of only two people ever invited to work directly with UNC's women's soccer program on mental conditioning. Hearing how he approaches that work with athletes at that level is one of the best parts of this conversation.
I came into this conversation as a fan of his books, and I left it with a much better sense of the person behind them. Joshua talks about mental conditioning the same way he lives it — plainly, and without pretense. Press play above to hear it all.
Joshua Medcalf, Train to Be Clutch, UNC women's soccer.
Joshua Medcalf is the founder of Train to Be Clutch and the author of six books on mental conditioning, leadership, and life skills, including Pound the Stone, Chop Wood Carry Water, and Hustle. He has worked with elite programs including UNC's women's soccer team.
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